Rare Black Nikon S "Life Magazine" Camera No. 6101424

Description:

Rare Black Nikon S "Life Magazine" Camera No. 6101424, 24 x 34mm, black paint, white paint-filled engravings, the top-plate engraved Nippon Kogaku, Tokyo, leather-covered body, shutter speeds B, 20-1, 30, 40, 60, 100, 200, 500, enlarged wind and rewind knobs for field use, chrome lens and tripod mounts, and a Nippon Kogaku Nikkor-H.C. f/2 5cm lens no. 625463.
Condition: 5B(iv).
Note: A rare example of the Nikon S produced as a special order for Life magazine photographers, with black-paint finish and high-profile wind and rewind knobs. Life magazine was apparently so impressed with the quality of the images taken with Nikon cameras by Korean war photographers such as David Douglas Duncan and Carl Mydams that they put in an order for twenty customized cameras for their staff. Camera No. 6101424 is one of two surviving examples known; the other, No. 6196936, resides in Tokyo.
Litereature: See the current issue of Nikon Historical Society Journal. Thanks to Robert Rotoloni for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.
Estimate $25,000-30,000

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